That Summer
by TheScarsYou'llNeverSee
Summary: A modern day story. Korra and her friends are spending the summer by the lake like always but things are different this year. While helping Mako deal with his love life Korra also has to deal with what is happening in her own life. Through all the ups and downs how will they deal with everything. Sorry its sucks, it's my first story. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

That Summer

Chapter One

A girl walked down the street, you could tell this girl was drunk by the way, she swayed back and forth, slurred her words, and the obvious brown stain on her red dress. The girl had on a dark red cocktail dress that went down to her mid-thigh that had spaghetti straps and matching stilettos dangling from her purse. Her brown hair was running over her shoulders in waves.

"Korra get in the car!" Yelled a black haired boy in a black charger beside her on the rode. Anyone who saw these two would have thought that they were boyfriend and girlfriend just fighting or braking up.

"You get in the car." She said back not even knowing what it meant.

"What? Never mind. Korra get in the right now or so help me I will drag you to it and put you in the trunk!" He said as he slammed his fist on the door.

"Noooooooo." She said as she fell onto the sidewalk and giggled. She crossed her legs and arms not caring if Mako could see her underwear.

"Korra so help me if you don't get in this car right now I'll.…" He started but got cut off.

"You'll what? You won't hurt me." She said defiantly.

Let me back up here. That drunken girl on the ground that's me. My name is Korra. The guy in the charger is Mako, he was my best friend since we were babies. We spend the summer at the lake with no parents around. To me that wasn't the best idea but it worked for me. We had started to share a house which is more like a mansion but when you grow up in one you get use to calling it a house. Mako, his brother Bolin, and I stayed there all summer. In the fall we would go the same high school. With that said I can go back to the other thing. Just to let you know I would never dress like that in a million years but I needed to get Mako's attention. I would normally dress in a baggy T-shirt, baggy pants, a hat, and converse. I hung out with Mako and his friends like one of the guys. But being around him so much I did the classic, sappy, love story thing. I fell in love with my best friend. It's not like I intended to or anything, it just happened. One day I was perfectly happy skateboarding and fixing cars then something felt off. I didn't know what but I figured it out later on. I just didn't know why it had to be him. He has a girlfriend like ant hot guy would. This whole mess started at the beginning of the summer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I drove my 98' black charger down the rode at 55 miles per hour. I wasn't in a hurry to get there but Asami would have a cow if I was late. I drove up the long drive way to her house and parked. Suddenly Love Drunk by Boys Like Girls starts playing. I grab my new Prada purse and got out my phone.  
"Korra where the hell are you? You're late and He wants to know where you are." She says emphasizing the word he. My heart races at the thought of him. I must have zoned out because she started yelling again. "Korra. Korraa. Korra!"  
"Mhh?"  
"You were thinking about him again weren't you?"  
"No. Why would you think that?"  
"Dude you are so hooked."  
"Oh shut up."  
"Fine. Now get in here and make sure you look amazing."  
"Okay bye." Hanging up I looked in the rearview mirror. My hair was straitened to perfection, I had lip gloss on my lips, eye liner and mascara to make my blue eyes pop. Asami had taken me shopping so I had on a brand new outfit and new wardrobe. She had gotten me into ripped up skinny jeans with paint splattered on them(my idea), a tight white tank top, and converse sneakers with a wedge. I got out of the car and walked around to the back gate. I lifted the handle and walked in. I was greeted by bright lights and loud music. Asami always held a beginning of summer party at her house. I stepped out of the darkness of the hedge so she could see me. Their were people in the pool, at the bar, or playing some stupid game involving alcohol. Asami was always the DJ at her party's. She waved when she saw me. I smiled at her. She was wearing cut off denim shorts, a red tank top, and heels. Jinora was quickly signaled to give me a microphone. The music suddenly changed. People stated to boo. I walked out of shadows and started to sing.

Now go and stand in the corner and think about what you did  
(Just a little revenge)  
Almost everyone was staring at me now.  
The story starts when it was hot and it was summer  
And I had it all and I had him right where I wanted him  
She came along and got him alone  
And lets hear the applause  
I started to walk around the yard. I couldn't help but smile now. Everyone was looking at me. Some even looked like they didn't know who I was. I finally found my target. Mako was standing by the idiots playing a drinking game. The crowd parted for me as I walked.  
She took him faster than you could say sabotage  
I never saw it coming wouldn't have expected it  
I underestimated just who I was dealing with  
She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum

She underestimated just who she was stealing from  
She's not a saint, and she's not what you think  
She's an actress whoa oh  
She's got a number of things she dose on the mattress whoa oh  
On the line She's got a number of things I decided to make things a little flirty. I start blowing kisses and giving secret smiles to random guys in the crowd. Some got in trouble with their girlfriends.  
Someday she's going to find that  
Stealing other peoples toys on the playground won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge

She looks at life like it's a party and she's on the list  
She looks at me like I'm a trend and she's so over it  
I think her ever present frown is a little troubling  
And she thinks I'm psycho cause I like to rhyme her name with things

But sophistication isn't what you wear or who you know  
But pushing people around gets you where you need to go  
They wouldn't teach you that in prep school so its up to me  
But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity

She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress whoa oh  
And she got a number of things she dose on the mattress whoa oh  
Soon she's goanna find that  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground wont make you many friends

She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge  
I'm getting closer to Mako now. He turns around with a smug smile on his face because he's heard my singing voice before, but gets a surprised look on his face when he sees how I'm dressed. He was dressed in swimming trunks and no shirt. I found it hard not to stare at him.  
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey  
You might have him but haven't you heard  
I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey  
You might have him but I always get the last ooo' whoa oh whoa oh oh oh

She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress whoa oh  
She's got a number of things she dose on the mattress whoa oh

Soon she's gonna find out that  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground wont make you many friends  
She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge

Do you still feel like you know what your doing  
Cause I don't think you do oh  
Do you still feel like you know what your doing  
I don't think you do I don't think you do

Lets hear the applause  
Show me how much better you are  
Cause your so much better  
She took him faster than you could say sabotage

When I'm done I'm in front of Mako. When I finish the crowd cheers for me. My chest is rising and falling rapidly. Mako is just standing in front of me with his mouth hanging open. I put my index finger under his chin and close his mouth. "You'll catch flies that way you know." My finger tingled from where I touched him.  
"K..Korra? W…w…what are you doing here?" he stammers out. I roll my eyes  
"I always come to this party. In fact I go to all the summer parties." I say obviously  
"Oh yeah." He says like he's just remembering it. He looks down at my outfit.  
"You like it?" I say twirling for him. What am I doing I never act this way? Asami must be rubbing off on me. He just nods and I smile bigger. He moves closer to me as if seeing me for the first time. I felt him leaning even closer then we're interrupted.  
"Mako have you seen Pabo? I can't find him." Mako's little brother Bolin yells. Then he sees me. "Oh hi. Am I interrupting something?" Straitening up really quickly Mako responds.  
"No. What did you want?" he says after he clears his throat and shaking his head as if to clear his mind.  
"Pabo. I can't find him."  
"Bo I told you not to bring him here." He says turning into a big brother.  
"But he loves coming here so much." Bolin was 18 like Mako and but sometimes he acted like a five year old.  
Mako sighed "Come on. I'll help you find him."  
"Oh yeah, Asami wants to know if you have seen Korra." For the first time I realize that Bolin doesn't recognize me.  
Mako puts his hand on his hips and shakes his head. "Bo this is Korra." Pointing at me.  
I wave at him. He leans close to Mako.  
"She looks like a girl." He whispers to him. I punch him in arm.  
"I am a girl!" I say back. Mako was already walking away.  
"Ow. That hurt."  
"Good." I say as I go to find Asami.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I woke up to something furry on me. I opened my eyes to see a brownish-red ferret with dark circles around its eyes sitting on my chest. "Pabo?"

"Morning sleepy head. Breakfast is ready." I turned me head to see Mako standing in the doorway.

"Uhhhhg. I hate mornings." I say putting my pillow over my head. "Why are you so uppity? What the hell are you on and can I have some?" my voice muffled by the pillow.

"Come on get up. We have a busy day." He prodded.

"No."

"NO? Well we're just going to have to fix that." He said walking over to my bed.

"Mako don't even think about it." I say

"What? I'm just walking into your room." Then he picked me up and throws me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I start beating his back and yelling. He carries me down stairs and pastes right by the kitchen. Pabo, who was thrown off when Mako picked me up and Naga, who was knocked off the bed followed us.

"Mako what the hell are you doing?" I yell. "Where are you going?" I soon find out. He walks outside and drops me in the pool. I scream when I go in. All this yelling is going to wake Bolin. "Oh you are so dead."

"And how's that? I'm not in there with you." He says bending down with a smug look on his face.

"That so?" I grab his collar and pull him in. Suddenly I'm grabbed by the waist and pulled down. We start wrestling in the pool. Getting into the shallow end I'm able to stand. Mako has his arms around my waist and I have my arms on his chest trying to pull away. "Mako let go!"

"Maybe I don't want to." shocked at what he said I stop struggling. We stay there looking into each others eyes for a while. His eyes are a beautiful golden color with flicks of brown in them. I felt the urge to kiss him I stop my self because at that moment someone cleared their throat. We turn our heads to see who it was. It was Asami and Bolin. Asami was wearing blue shorts with strips, a tank top, and converse. She had her arms crossed. Bolin was still in his PJ's of boxer shorts and a T-shirt and had a surprised look on his face. We quickly pulled our arms away from each other and stepped away.

"What's going on here?" Asami asked.

"Umm. Would you believe morning swim?" Mako says.

"No." she says with a serious look on her face.

"Mako was trying to wake me up." I say

"And that involves being in the pool ?"

"He did it." I say pointing at him. I know it's like a first grade thing to do but he did.

"What? It's your fault."

"How?"

"You wouldn't get up."

"So not every one has to rise with the sun."

"Oh really?" As he said this he grabbed me and flung me into the deep end. I decided to play a little trick on Mako for waking me up. Pretending that the impact knocked me unconscious even though he's done that to me a lot, I sunk to the bottom of the pool and after a few minutes I knew he would come get me. I saw him look around and under him to see if I was going to attack him or pull him under. He looked kind of worried. I swam to the shallow end when he went under to look for me and got out. Sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of where he would surface, I put my figure to my mouth to tell them to be quite. When he came up he look confused and worried. "What are you trying to do!" he yelled breathing hard.

"Nothing. Just sitting." I say with a smile on my face. He started towards me with one hand raised. Before he could yell at me Asami butted in.

"Why don't we go eat some breakfast." She says pulling Bolin into the house. I get up and wait for Mako to get out of the pool. Then we walk to the house. I realize that the tank top and shorts I'm wearing are kind of see through. I cross my arms and keep walking. We go shower and get dressed. Because I'm a girl Mako and Bolin decided to give me the master bedroom so I got the big room. Its dark purple with sayings written in the walls in a different color. I shower and put cut off shorts and a tank top on. I walked down stairs. The table was laid out with bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, and biscuits and gravy. "This looks great!" I said as I sat down and filled my plate. Everyone was already there. No one spoke through out the whole meal unless they asked something to be pasted to them. "Hey Mako can you past me the bacon?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said with a mouth full of toast. Grabbing the plate of bacon he handed it to me. Our hands touched under the plate and I didn't know if he felt it too, but there was a little spark of energy that passed up my arm. He might have felt it because he got a confused expression on his face. To get my mind off what just happened I asked what we were going to do today.

"How about the boat?" Asami asked. She got multiple yeses. The boat was a yacht that the Sato's owned we went on it every summer. So we ate quickly and headed off to our rooms to get changed. As I was walking out of the dinning room Mako appeared in front of me.

"Can we talk in privet?" he said.

"Umm. Sure." I said curiously. He took me to hallway outside of the kitchen. "What?"

"What was that all about?"

I just look at him confused.

"In the pool. Asami stopped me before I could say anything. Now why did you do that?!" his voice was rising higher.

"It was just some fun Mako. Why are you so worked up." I say backing up against the wall because he had moved closer to me.

"Because what if that really happened and you're my best friend and I don't know what I would do. . ." That last part hurt. I didn't want to be just his best friend. But I was confused on what he would do. "Just don't do that anymore. Please."

"Okay. I can I go get dressed now?"

"Oh. Yeah." He just realizes that he had put his hands on the wall on either side of my head and pulls them back. I walk back to my room thinking about how he reacted when we talked. He seemed overly worried about what happened in the pool. I didn't how to explain it. There was something different about the way he was talking to me in the hallway. Something was off. Maybe because it was getting close to the time when his parents were killed he always gets a little touchy around then. When I walk into my room I see Asami going through my clothes and hanging them up in my closet. Naga was asleep on my bed having already been fed by I'm guessing Mako.

"What are you doing?" I ask her

"I'm organizing your clothes. Because apparently you won't. Ah ha!" she exclaimed.

"What?" I ask

"This." She holds up a two piece swim suit. I groan. "You promised you would try." She says.

"I know but does it have to be a two piece?"

"Do you want him to stop seeing you as one of the guys?"

"Uhhhhg fine." I go in to the bathroom and put on the string bikini . Its dark blue with white tropical flowers on it that look like they were spry painted on. I walk out and Asami had changed in to hers, its just plain red. I put on the same shorts, Asami laid out a new shirt for me to wear. Its purple and the collar was cut wide enough to hang lose on my shoulders. It hung so lose that most of my arms were visible. My skin is a nice mocha color so it was fine but it's more skin than I've ever shown. I've gone swimming before but I would always were a one piece and I wore a baggy shirt over that so people only ever saw my legs. I walked down stairs where everybody was waiting for me, except Mako.

"Hey." I say getting in the car. I get a hey from Asami, but Bolin is staring at my outfit. "What? Is there something wrong with it?" he shakes his head. I look at Asami and laugh and she laughs with me. "Bo I know I look like a girl. It's kind of obvious." I say to him. it was obvious now because you could tell that I have boobs and before I wore such baggy clothes and a hat so that it was hard to tell. Then Mako gets in with a disappointing announcement his girlfriend Lee would be meeting us at the boat. I held in my distain with a smile. None of us like her. She complains all the times and thinks that she's to fragile to do anything for herself. We all knew that she was just dating Mako because he's rich and he can buy her things. Mako believes that I'm fine with him dating her of course he still thinks of me as one of the guys and I hope to change that.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

We arrived ten minutes later and started to prepare the boat. I went in to the kitchen to put away lunch and clean up I heard voices and guessed that Lee was here. Lee has short black hair and looks like she doesn't eat. All of her clothes are extra small. She always ignores me and Asami. When I was done cleaning I went back outside. I saw Asami and her boyfriend Iroh talking on a beach chair, Mako and Lee making out and Bolin blowing up inter tubes. I decided to go help Bolin. When we were done we broke apart Mako and Lee so we could get going we tied the inter tubes to the boat and figured out who would be going first. It would be Mako and I. I didn't know how I kept getting stuck with him. Lee thought that it was to dangerous and that she would get bruised so she wouldn't do anything. I stipend off my shorts and T-shirt and put them on the chair next to Asami. I heard a few wolf whistles from her, Bolin, and Iroh. I see Mako staring at my with his mouth open. I run towards the edge and do a perfect dive, kicking off my flip-flops as I went. When I surfaced I shouted to Mako. "Coming or not?" He's still staring at me dazed. Bolin starts waving his hand in front of his face.

"Uhh. What?" he says shaking his head.

"Are. You. Getting. In. The. Water?" I yelled

"Oh yeah." And before I know it he's diving in next to me. "I give it a five." I say to him when he surfaces.

"Oh really."

"Yeah really." Then he puts his hands on my head and pushes me under. We keep fighting for awhile until Lee says she's board. So we swim to our inter tubes and get on. Asami starts the boat and we're off. Tubing has to be the best part of summer vacation. The wind whistling through your hair, the spray hitting your face, the treat of falling off into the water. After about ten minutes Mako falls off and we have to go back to get him. "Had an enough?" I say when we get in range.

"Never!" Mako and I always have compactions to see who can stay on longer. It's been pretty even for the past few years. It goes on like this for awhile until we call break so I can make lunch. We swim back to the boat and get on. I dry off and put my clothes back on. I walk to the kitchen and start taking things out to make Mac & Cheese and hot dogs. I try to get a pot down to boil water but ended up knocking a bunch of stuff over and making a lot of noise. Asami, Bolin, and Mako came to see what happened. They all laughed at me.

"Oh go jump off the boat."

"Some ones a little grouchy." Mako says helping me clean up. Asami and Bolin knew I liked Mako so they decided that they would go back to the deck, leaving me with Mako.

I start the water and as I turn around to pick up the last pan Mako grabs it and reaches up above me to put it in the cabinet. His eyes lock with mine as he closes the door. He suddenly kisses me on the mouth I kiss back. It feels like there's a fire inside me starting in my stomach and spreading through out my body leaving wanting more, but he quickly backs away and leaves the room without a word. This leaves me confused. I go back to making lunch to get my mind off what just happened. Through out lunch I catch him staring at me and looking away. Really wish he would stop it because every time I start thinking about the kiss. After lunch I lay down on one of the beach chairs in my bikini and tan. Its not really tanning for me, I just like to feel the warmth on my skin. At around three we get back in the water and start tubing again. Neither Mako nor I would go at the same time now. Asami kept giving me weird looks. I just shook my head and continued with what I was doing. At around five Lee starts complaining about a nonexistent sun burn. I mean come on she was wearing a long sleeve shirt and jeans. She was getting so annoying I thought I would slap her. Finally I couldn't take it any more. I walked to the edge with people giving me confused looks, take off my clothes and flip-flops as I went and jumped off. Everyone except Lee rushed to the edge. I start doing the breast stroke towards the shore. I hear them yelling at me. Where I going and what am I doing. Silence was my answer. When I was fifteen feet away I heard a splash and more yelling. I didn't know who had jumped in but I didn't want them to catch up to me. I just needed to be alone for a while so I swam faster. I made it to shore first and I looked back to see who was fallowing me. To my dismay it was Mako the last person I wanted to see or talk to. I started to run. I ran as fast as I could. I made it to the house and got to my room. Naga gave me an annoyed look. "Don't even." I quickly changed and put on my tennis shoes. I quickly go the stairs that lead up to the roof and run up them. I could hear Mako running up the stairs now and calling my name. I locked the door behind me, went over to the wall, sat down, and leaned against it.

"Korra open the door right now! Korra!" I put headphones in and blared my music. A song came on that I think is perfect song for today. It was "Not Who I Was" by Brandon Heath.

I wish you could see me now

I wish I could show you how

I'm not who I was

I use to be mad at you, a little on the hurt side too

But I'm not who I was

I found my way around to forgiving you some time ago

But I never got tell you

Sooo dada dada dada dada dada

dada dada dada dada dada dada

dada dada dada dada dada dada

I found us in a photograph

I saw me and I had to laugh

You know I'm not who I was

You were there to you were right above me

And I wonder if you ever loved me just for who I was

When the pain came back again like a bitter friend

It was all that I could do to keep my self from blaming you

Hey dada dada dada dada dada dada

Dada dada

Thinking it's a funny thing

I figured out I could sing

Now I'm not who I was

I write about love and such

Maybe cause I want it so much

I'm not who I was

I was thinking that maybe I should let you know

Lying not the same

But I never did forgot your name

Hello dada dada dada dada dada

dada dada dada dada dada dada

dada dada dada dada dada dada

oh oh oh na na na na na na na na

na na na na na na na na na na na

na na na na na na na na na na na

na na na na na na na na na na na

The thing I find most amazing in amazing grace

Is the chance to give it up

Maybe that's what love is all about

I wish that you could see me now

I wish I could show you how

I'm not who I was

Suddenly I feel the sun blocked out by something. I take out my headphones and I opened my eyes to see an extremely winded Mako standing in front of me holding a key. " Crap." I whispered. I had forgotten about the key.

"WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled at me. I flinched at every word. "You promised that you wouldn't do that any more!" I stand up, because sitting down makes me feel too venerable.

"I promised not to do the thing I did in the pool." I say in a small voice. I hated it when Mako yelled at me. It made me feel small and insignificant. Seeing how his words affected me he lowered his voice.

"Korra please. I really care about you. Can you stop doing things that worry me. I didn't even know where you were going. And then you took off running. How was I suppose to know that you weren't going to be killed or get in a strange van with blacked out windows." He put his hands on his face exasperated . Speechless by what he said I put my hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry." Was all I could say before he envelope me in a hug. Rapping my arms around him I hugged back. He squeezed me so tight that it was hard to breath. I rested my head on his shoulder. He had a hand on my head and the other arm on my back. "I'm sorry I upset you."

"No I'm sorry I yelled at you. It was uncalled for."

"Its fine." Then we went back to silence. We stayed like that for a while. My arms around his torso and my head on his shoulder, his arm around my waist the other partly on my back and his hand on the back of my head. A few minutes later he gives me one more squeeze and let's go. Some reason it feels right to be in his arms. I walk over to the railing and he fallows me. I lean my elbows on it but he just stands there with is hands on it. "Mako can I talk to you?"

"Yeah anything." He acts like the kiss on the boat never happened.

"I've know you for a long-time right?"

He chuckles "Yeah."

"Well I have a friend" he looks at me skeptically "I have other friends. Anyway I have this friend and this guy she knows keeps doing weird things and she doesn't know what to do about it?" I say looking at him he looks at me.

"Is this about that kiss on the boat? Look I don't know why I kissed I just did."

"You don't just kiss people."

"Okay, okay. Can we just pretend that it never happened I have enough problems right now." He says as he leans on his elbows too and putting his hands together.

"Like what?"

"I know you guys don't like Lee."

"And I thought I was hiding that so well." I say sarcastically and putting my hand on my face. He nudges my shoulder with his.

"I think I'm starting to get why you ran away today on the boat. She's getting really annoying. I just don't know how to do it."

"Do what?"

"Break up with her." He says simply and looks back at me. I just stare at him.

"I didn't know she was that annoying."

"Isn't that why you jumped off the boat?"

"Among other things."

"Well I don't know how to do it and I don't want to deal with her complaining any more."

Standing up I say "I've got a plan."

"What?" he looks at me hopefully. I go on to tell him my plane.

"Its perfect! And you promise it will work?"

"Defiantly. Now we need to tell Bo and Asami for this to work right. Where are they anyway?" I say looking down at the drive way.

"Oh I told them that I needed to talk to you in privet so they should take Lee out to dinner. Kind of harsh right?"

"Kind of." I say shrugging. Then my stomach growls. We laugh at it.

"Some ones hungry." He says. "Come on lets go make some dinner." We walk towards the door. He puts an arm around my shoulders and I put one around him. Its odd how perfect I fit beside him. He unlocks the door and we went down stairs to the kitchen. We decided to make spaghetti. Plugging in my ipod I put it on shuffle mode so we could listen to music as we cooked. We made the sauce with meat in one pan and the noodles in another. Mako was determined to have garlic bread so he went digging in the freezer until he found some.

"Okay the noodles are done. Now we're just waiting on the bread and sauce." I say putting the lid on the noodles.

"Great! The bread is done. So now its just the sauce."

"Kay." Then slow song came on my ipod.

"Come here." He said waving me over to him.

"Why?"

"Because people dance to music and you shouldn't dance alone to a slow song." He said still waving me over. I went over to him. He placed one hand on my waist and grabbed my other hand. I put my hand on his shoulder and gripped his hand. We moved in a slow circle around the kitchen. We moved closer to each other so we didn't knock anything over. I laid my head on his chest and he put his head on my head, the top of my head under his chin. When the song ends we stand there like that for awhile. Then the timer went off and we released each other. I went to check the sauce and Mako went to set the table. I put the spaghetti on the plates and went to find Mako. He wasn't in the dinning room so I went outside to the patio. I found him there at the table with an umbrella up and the table was set up beautifully. He had set out the silver wear and the place mats.

"This looks. . . Great!" I say smiling and put the plates on the table.

"And this looks delicious." He said as he pulled out my chair for me.

"Thanks." At that we tucked in. Halfway through the meal I noticed the sun was going down. The sky was beautiful, red and pink streaked it and there was a slight purple tone to it.

"Its gorgeous." Mako says

"Yeah." I say back.

"I know I've never seen anything like it." a female voice says. Surprised we turn around to see Bolin and Asami standing in the door way.

"What are you guys doing?" Bo says

"Having dinner." I say putting a fork of spaghetti in my mouth.

"Oh I get it you get to have a peaceful dinner here while we get to deal with the most annoying person in the world!" Bo says back.

"Actually we have a plane to fix that." Mako says.

"And what's that. You make out with Korra and have her catch you pretending to cheat on her." Asami says waving her hands dramatically.

"Umm yes. Korra came up with it." he says waving a hand towards me. Every one looks at me

"I got it from years of watching Asami." I say with a shrug and go back to eating my food.

"Is that so?"

"I owe it all to you." I say lifting my fork to her. "By the way where is Lee? I thought you guys took her out to dinner?"

"We did but she said that the food at the restaurant I picked made her sick so she went home." Bolin said.

"Yeah she gets a little cranky when she doesn't get her way." Mako says rubbing the back of his neck.

"Then that happens a lot." I say to him. We all start laughing at that. Asami yawns.

"Well I'm going home. I'll be back at seven tomorrow." She says as she walks away.

"Night!" we all yell to her.

"I think I'm going to go to bed to." Bolin says. He hugs me good night and pats his brother on the back.

"You going inside too?" he asks me.

"No I think I'm going to stay out a little longer. Maybe go for a swim." I say with a sly smile.

"Haven't you had enough swimming for one day?" he says picking up our plates.

"Probably." I get up and walk to the kitchen with him

"So how do you think the day went?" he asked me while rinsing the dishes off.

"Apart from the wet wake up call, spending the day with an annoying girl, running away, and the yelling?" I say back putting the dishes in the dish washer.

"Yes besides all of that." He says smiling. We start walking upstairs.

"Umm. I really don't know that basically takes up the whole day." We get to my room.

"I guess your right. Well goodnight."

"Night." I give him a slight hug and went in to my room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

I woke up early the next morning for no reason at all. I put on some grey shorts that had an orange flower on it and "beach bum" across the butt. They were cut off of sweat pants and only went to my mid-thigh. A white tank top and some running shoes. I gabbed my ipod, went down stairs, took a crescent out of the refrigerator, and went for a run. I stayed on the road for awhile and then went in to the woods. I liked running in the woods it helps me clear my head. And that's exactly what I wanted to do. I just had way to much on my mind. I must not have been thinking about where I was going because before I knew it I was in an old clearing with a swing hanging from a tree at the other side of the clearing. The swing was made out of rope and a board. The rope was thick and looked a long way from braking. I remember this place! When we were little kids Mako, Bolin, and I use to come here and play.  
(Flashback)  
Three little kids around four years old were playing in a bright clearing. One girl and two boys. The little girl stood on a swing hanging from a tree on the far side of the clearing. The two boys looked to be fighting. The one with black spiky hair had a long stick and was holding it like a sword. The other one had brown hair and was on all fours.  
"Behold Sir Mako. I am here to slay the dragon and rescue the fair princess trapped in the tower!" He yelled poking the stick at the one on all fours.  
"Roar! I'm Bolin the ferocious dragon. I shall kill the knight and keep the princess trapped." He moved toward the one with a stick.  
"Oh hurry Sir knight. Please save me from the dragon." The girl said putting a hand dramatically on her head.  
"I shall save you Princess Korra!" he started jabbing Bolin with the stick/sword. They moved around the clearing. Eventually the one on all fours finally fell over pretending to be dead like a slain dragon. Mako strides over to the girl, who was know sitting on the swing.  
"My savior!" Mako picked her up off the swing by the waist and twirls her around.  
"My princess. Now I shall take you off to my castle and marry you." He set her down and the game was over. Bolin got up and walked over to them.  
"Can I be the knight next time? I don't like being poked with a stick." He said rubbing his arms.  
"But I'm always the knight." Mako says.  
"Just because you have a crush on Korra doesn't mean you get to be the knight every  
time." Mako pushes Bolin over.  
"I don't have a crush on Korra!" The two boys start fighting while the girl just stands there giggling at them. "What?"  
"Nothing." She says shaking her head.  
"Oh yeah." Then Mako was on top of Korra and tickling her. Bolin joins in, pinning her down.  
"Korra, Mako, Bolin. Time to go." An adult voice interrupts. The three kids run towards the voice.  
(Different Flashback)  
The same three kids now around six were playing tag in the same clearing. The boy with black hair was it.  
"Your never going to get me!" Korra yells. She knows he has to choose her or his brother. He goes after the girl. She runs towards the tree with the swing hanging from it. he speeds up a little and she looks back at him. Suddenly she falls over a tree root. The boys stop and laugh at her. They soon stop laughing because they see she's crying. Mako walks over to her.  
"Korra are you okay?" she sits up and leans against the tree bringing her legs around to the front. Mako was shocked by what he saw. There was blood running down her right leg. "Bo go get mom Korra's hurt!" as his brother goes to get their mom Mako sits down next to Korra. "Its okay. Its just a little blood. Lets wash it off." He takes her over to the lake a few feet from the trees. She takes off her shoe and puts her leg in the water. She sighs with relief.  
"Thank you Mako." She says to him. A few minutes later a brown haired women with green eyes comes over to them.  
"Now what's going on here?" She asks with her hands on her hips.  
"Korra fell down and her leg was bloody so we were washing it off." Mako says.  
"Well lets see it." The women prods. Korra lifts her leg out of the water and shows her. "Its just a scrap all it needs is a band-aid."  
(Different Flashback)  
Two kids about twelve are on the branches of a big oak tree with a swing hanging on it. One boy and one girl. The boy had a pocket knife out.  
"Are you sure we can be out here with out an adult?" Korra asks.  
"Yeah its fine no one will know." Mako says back.  
"What are you even doing?" she says trying to see what he is doing.  
"Wait and see." They wait there for a few more minutes until the boy is done. "Voila." The boy says showing the girl what he had carved into the tree. It was a heart with an arrow through it and it had their initials on either side. She smiled at it.  
"Why do you keep doing stuff like this? Our parents are going to think that something is up. They already think that we're going to get married."  
"Well I have no choice you wont go out with me so what am I suppose to do?"  
"Mako you know how I feel about that. Its not dating in middle school."  
"I know I know." Suddenly a winded Bolin came running into the clearing with tears in his eyes. "Hey little bro what's wrong?" He said as they jump down from the tree.  
"Mom and Dad. Th…they…" he shook his head and put his hands on his face.  
"No." Korra puts her hand on her mouth tears coming to her eyes. She went and hugged Bolin. "I'm so sorry." Mako just stood there staring off into space. She went to him. "Mako? Are you okay?" she said putting a hand on his arm.  
"How did it happen?" was all he said.  
"I don't know." His brother says. You could tell he'd been crying. Suddenly there were flashing lights and police chief Lin Befong enters the clearing.  
"I'm sorry but I'm need you to come with us right now." The boys start towards her.  
"Wait! I'm coming too." Korra say running after them.  
"Sorry but I only need the boys."  
"No she needs to come with us. Our parents are good friends and we're watching her while hers are out of town. Please don't make her leave." Mako says putting an arm around her shoulders. She puts an arm around his waist and her head on his shoulder. The chief gives them a strange look.  
"Fine. Come along."  
(Flashbacks End)  
I was now sitting under the tree with the swing. I couldn't help but remember all the things that happened in this clearing. The good and bad. It was starting to get hot now. I see the lake a few feet away and walk over to it. Taking off my shoes and socks I put my feet in the water. I must have sat there for awhile because I suddenly hear a stick break in the woods making me jump. The sun had moved farther in the sky. I look around the clearing and see nothing so I stare at the water letting my mind wonder. Then out of no where a ball of white fur barrels into me. "What the hell?!" then I realize that its Naga.  
"There you are. I have been looking everywhere." A male voice says from the woods. Then Mako emerges for the brush. He looks at the clearing in wonderment. "You found it. we haven't come here since. . ." he doesn't finish because I know the answer. Since his parents died. I stand up.  
"What are you doing here?" I say  
"Looking for you. I woke and you were gone and Naga was scratching at the door."  
"I left a note. Didn't I?" I say back going to sit on the swing and leaving my shoes there.  
"No you didn't." he say with his hands on his hips.  
"Oh well." I say with a shrug. He goes and gets my shoes.  
"Oh well? How many times do we have to talk about this?"  
"Mako its fine I just went for a run. I was going to come back." I say putting them on.  
"I know but you worry me sometimes the way you just run off." He's gotten more protective ever since his parents died.  
"Mako?" I say as I walk over to the base of the tree.  
"Yeah?" he says fallowing me.  
"Do you remember? That day when it happened?" I start climbing the tree.  
"Everyday." He says with a sad tone to his voice. I stop at a thick branch and sit down with my back to the tree leaning on it with my knees up. "Why do you ask?" He sits down next to me.  
"Is that why your so protective of me and Bolin?" I say looking up.  
"Yeah. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone I loved to die and then they did and it made it more important for me to protect you guys. If one of you die or leave I don't think I could take it." he looks at me with sad eyes. Naga had fallen asleep under the tree.  
"Wow. I remember going to the police station with you two but that's about it."  
(Flashback)  
"Get in the car." Lin said opening the door. Mako gets in first then Korra and finally Bolin. She held their hands the whole way to the station. When they got there she kept hold of Mako's and Bolin's hands and they keep hold of her hands as if they were life lines. They are told to have a seat when they get inside. It was an order not a suggestion. They sat down in front of Befong's desk. There were only two seats so Mako made Korra and Bolin sit in them. She sighs and lays her hands on the desk. Being the Chief she had her own office so they were in the privacy of the walls. "I'm sorry to tell you this but your parents were in a crash." She says gesturing to the boys. "A drunk driver hit them as they were coming out of the parking lot of the restaurant. They were hit on the driver side. Your father was killed on impact, you mother was rushed to the nearest hospital but her injures were to server and she past away during surgery. I feel as though your to young to know how they died but you're the only ones left and need to know." She says using her hands to talk. Tears start to stream down Korra's eyes. Mako puts his hands on her shoulders. She leans into it. "I will give you some privacy." With that she walks out of the room. Bolin starts shaking his head.  
"What's wrong?" Korra says touching his arm.  
"I didn't even get to say goodbye." He says looking at her. She wraps him in a hug.  
"I'm sorry to interrupt but I need one of you to sign some papers." Lin says popping her head through the doorway.  
"I'll do it." Mako says taking his hand off of her shoulder and leaving the room. Korra and Bolin sat there hugging until he came back a few minutes later. "Korra can I talk to you outside, please?" He says keeping his hand on the door. Bolin watches her go.  
"What's wrong?"  
"They need someone to identify our dad's body. I don't think I can do it alone. And I don't want Bolin to see."  
"I'll go with you." She says grabbing his hand. He squeezed her hand.  
"Thank you." He hugs her and she hugs back. When they release each other they are led to the morgue. They walked into the morgue holding hands and reassuring each other. The coroner leads them over to a silver wall with little doors on it. He opens one on the third row. A man is on the slab. He has black spiky hair like Mako, his eyes are closed, but they new that they were the same golden color as Mako's, he was covered from the neck down with a white cloth, and he had scratches on his face. Korra folds into Mako sobbing, he puts one hand on her head and the other on her back. He starts stroking her hair. "Shh." He looks up at the coroner "Its him can we go now?"  
"Of course." He leads them back to the door where they escorted back to the room. Korra still had her head on Mako's chest and he still had his arms around her  
"What's wrong?" Bolin says rushing to them as they came in.  
"Nothing." Korra says wiping the tears away. "Come on lets go home."  
(Flashback Ends)  
I feel a tear slid down my face and quickly wipe it away. "So do you remember what we were doing earlier that day?"  
"Not really. I tried to forget that day but it comes up sometimes." He says dangling his legs from the limb.  
"All I remember is that you carved something into the tree and that's all."  
"Well lets find out." We start climbing the tree looking for what Mako carved that day. Not long after we start looking he finds it. "Over here." When I see it I remember the twelve year olds sitting here talking, happy, care free. The image was kind of faded but you could still see the heart, arrow, and initials carved into the tree.  
"Why did you carve this?" I ask putting my hand on it.  
"When we were little I had the biggest crush on you, but you wouldn't date me in middle school, you said it wasn't dating. So I had to settle for this."  
I start laughing "Oh yeah. Our parents thought we were going to get married when we were older. You kept giving me gifts especially on Valentines Day."  
"Hey I really liked you its not my fault you didn't like me back." He says chuckling. I did like him though, I still like him but I wouldn't tell him that.  
"So can we go back yet? Bolin and Asami are probably wondering where we are."  
"Your probably right. Come on I drove your car." He say walking out of the clearing.  
"Why is it always my car?" I fallow him.  
"Because I like your car better than mine." He tosses me the keys as we arrive at my car. In ten minutes we were back at the house. It turns out that I had left at six and then Mako had left at seven it was now 11:00 clock and Bolin and Asami were very angry with us.  
"I think that I'm going to change." I say walking to my bedroom. I knew what was going to happen when I went back down stairs. I hooked my ipod up to its dock and blared the music, then I got in the shower. I wanted to delay the yelling for as long as possible, but once I got out of the shower and went in to the bedroom Asami was there sitting on my bed flipping through a magazine.  
"So where did you and Mako go?" she said with out looking up. I grabbed a tank top and some shorts out of the closet and put them on.  
"We didn't go anywhere." This time she looked up. I went and sat next to her.  
"Well you weren't here."  
"I went for a run and Mako came to get me." I say with a shrug.  
"Sure. So while you and Mako were out doing what ever you two were doing Bolin and I finalized the plans to get rid of Lee."  
"Were we out that long?"  
"Not really but we really want to get rid of her. So lets go downstairs to meet the boys." With that she run/walked downstairs. We met the boys in the living room watching TV. I'm guessing Bolin picked the channel because it was on some reality show with angry moms and "rebellious" teens. Mako didn't look to interested in it.  
"Hey." I walk over and sit next to him.  
"Hey." His mouth full of nachos. I reach over and steal one. "Hey!"  
"What?" I say stuffing the chip in my mouth. Asami raises her eyebrows and I shrug. She turns off the TV and gets an irritated hey from Bolin.  
"Okay so I have come up with the finalized version of the plan to get rid of Lee." She say taking on a serious tone and pacing the floor in front of us. She acted like she was in a meeting at her fathers company. This was probably a good thing if she was going to run it when she got older. "Mako and Korra will be in the kitchen putting things away. Bolin, Iroh, and I will be outside on the deck. Now when you two hear her car door shut start kissing. She will most likely ask where Mako is so we will tell her he is in the kitchen. If not then we will get her to go downstairs. After we send her in there she will see you two making out and will start yelling so be prepared for that. Then Mako will lamely shout for her to come back but not go after her. Then we will be rid off the little bitch." She stood there now waiting for our approval. Bolin raises his hand.  
"Um. What will we be doing?"  
"We will be preparing the boat so if she decides she wants to come yell at Mako and make him beg for forgiveness she can't." She said with faith in this plan.  
"And your sure this will work?" Mako says.  
"Positive."  
"When are we going to do this?" I ask. The thought of kissing Mako again made my skin tingle. I didn't know if I was happy about kissing him again or scared I was going to fall for him even more.  
"When ever we can. I was thinking tomorrow, but Iroh cant make it. So how about Friday? Does that work for everyone?"  
"Actually no." I say "I'm busy then. Can we do it any other day?" They all look at me.  
"What are you doing Friday?" Asami asks. You could tell she wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.  
"I've got to go and do some stuff." I say with a shrug. They just stare at me for awhile. "What?"  
"Nothing. What are you going to do?"  
"Errands." I say and that was the end of it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The days went fast. It was Monday when Asami put together the plan. The rest of the week was spent on the boat, watching movies or TV, and going to parties( all of which Asami dressed me up and the guys were very impressed). On Friday I got up early to get ready to got to town. I took a shower then put on a lose grey T-shirt and some shorts with a paint hand print on them. I went downstairs grabbed an apple out of the basket and sat down to write a note.

Dear Mako, Bolin, & Asami,

I have gone to town. I won't be back until late. Do what you want just don't go in my room (Bolin & Asami) and don't delete my stuff off the TV (Bolin). Mako could you feed Naga for me I left really early and she is still asleep. I will do this every Friday from now on.

Love Korra

(P.S. Mako I wrote this so you wouldn't get upset again.)

I left the note on the table and left. Town was really a huge city, its name is Republic City. It was a two hour drive to the city so I relaxed and put in a CD. I had gotten up early enough to take my time. Every Friday I volunteered at a Day Care and a machine shop. At the day care I would help out with the one through three year olds from eight to twelve and then I worked fixing cars from one to eight. I got paid to work at the machine shop but I chose to work at the day care. I got there with fifteen minutes to spare. After I park and lock my car I walked through the gate that fenced in the yard. Two of the owners kids came running out greet me.

"Korra! Korra!" a little girl and boy yelled. The girl was Ikki and the boy was Meelo. Their mother and grandmother ran the day care.

"Hey guys." I say smiling and ruffle Ikki's hair, she pouts and smoothes it back into place.

"Hey Korra. How was your week? Did you spend it at the lake? Was Jinora there? Did you go to parties? Were they fun?" she always asked questions and in rapid fire.

"Whoa! Slow down there. Um good, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Now is your mother inside?" I say as I start walking towards the door. Before they could answer they ran inside the open door. "Hey Pema." I yell to their mother. She was a nice woman, very calm and understanding. Pema has light brown hair and a small frame.

"Hey Korra you came just at the right time. Rhoan won't stop crying, Katara isn't here yet, and kids are going to start arriving soon." She says as she walks out of the one through three years old room. I walk over to her and take Rhoan.

"Hey little Rho." He always calms down when Katara or I hold him. It took a few minutes for him to quite down but he soon did and went to sleep.

"You are coming to live at my house." She says to me. We laugh at that. Suddenly the little bell rang and the first kids arrived. The rest of the day was a blur. Kids would arrive and some would leave. Katara came soon after I did. I took care of the one through three years olds, including Rhoan, Pema and Katara took care of the four through eight year olds. The little kids got there own room because they are smaller and the bigger kids got the front room and the playground. Before I new it, it was eleven and the kids were eating lunch. After lunch we set the kids down to nap the ones that were to old to nap went outside to play.

"Well that was fun. I now have a new hand print to ad to the collection." I say pointing towards my shirt. Right on the center of my shirt was a little orange hand print. "That's never going to come out." Pema and Katara chuckled.

"Well how is life treating you. We didn't get to talk much when you got here." Pema said

"Oh I guess you could say good."

"Problems on the relationship front?" Katara asked coming in to have lunch with us. There were other people here to help in the afternoon.

"You could say that." And then I spilled it all out. They already knew I liked Mako but then I told them about the party, the kiss, the way he reacts when I run off (including the part about me jumping off the boat), and the day we spent in the clearing.

"Oh looks like you have some problems and what about his girlfriend?" Pema said

"The day I jumped off the boat and he came after me, he told me that he wanted to brake up with her and didn't know how. I gave him an idea I got from watching Asami's relationships and he thought it was perfect. But it involves me kissing him again."

"Wouldn't you be happy about kissing him again if you like him that much." Pema says

"That's the thing I am but I don't think that he feels the same way." After a pause I yell "That's it!"

"What?" Katara asks

"I am done with love all together." I say. They laugh at me.

"You will never be done with love. Believe me." Katara says. I guess she would know. Her husband died eighteen years ago and she still loves him, even if he's dead.

"Than what do you think I should do?"

"That's it."

"What?"

"You've got to do it. I can't for you nor can anyone else." She says. Suddenly my alarm goes off.

"I've got to go. I'm working at the machine shop down the street and I need to be there a one. Bye." I quickly hug them, Pema saying she wants to know what happens next time, and leave. I get to the machine shop say hi to a few people and get to work. I mainly work by myself back here. I went to the staff room (which has lockers), lock the door, and changed in to a navy blue tank top and coveralls. I zipped the coveralls to my waist and folded them down at my hips. After I put in my headphones I set to work on the cars. I will say this now I am the only girl working at the machine shop. At around five the guys went to the diner close to the shop. I continued to work. Suddenly a car horn, I took out my headphones and went to see who it was. I got a look at what I looked like in window, my hair was up in a ponytail with lose strands falling down and I also had grease smudges on my face and arms. I shrugged and continued walking. People who work in machine shops get greasy. When I opened the door there was a black El Camino with white strips down its sides and a guy with spiky black hair was leaning on the side.

"So this is where you went. Got to say not surprised." Mako says walking towards me. Oh come on! Just one day I have were no one knows where I was and now Mako did. I thought that if I didn't say I was in town they would stay at the lake. Its not that I mind that's its Mako but that feeling that I get when he is around was starting to get annoying.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I say when he gets close. I noticed that my voice was cold.

"The transmission in my car is doing some weird stuff. I would fix it my self but I don't have the tools at the house. I didn't know you worked here." He said putting his hands on his hips. Without a word I walk over to his car and lift the hood.

"Pull it inside." I say closing the hood and went inside to open the door.

"Some one is in a bad mood." He says pulling his car in.

"If you've had the kind of day I've had you would be to." I said getting to work on the transmission.

"And what kind of day is that?"

"A day full of little kids and paint hand prints." He looks at me with a questioning look. "You wouldn't understand. Your transmission is fine, the engine is just hot. Now here's the question. How did it get that way. I know that it doesn't get like that just driving to town." He rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Mako?"

"Asami told me and she wanted me to check in on you."

"Uhhg. Why cant she just leave me alone for one day?" I yell. I turn around to Mako and take on a calmer tone. "You can tell Asami that I will be home soon okay, now can you please leave I need to get to work?" With that we hugged and said our good-byes. I didn't know why I was so irritated with Mako. Probably because this was the only day I got to do what I do. I finished working on the cars (and ate the food the boys brought back) and left for the night. By the time I got back it was ten o'clock. I walked right up stairs, took a shower, and went to bed.

I continued to go to go to the city for the next couple of weeks. The next Wednesday we put our plan to get rid of Lee into action. We went out to the boat early and told her to come. When we saw her car coming down the rode Mako and I went down to the kitchen. Asami, Bolin, and Iroh will be outside on the deck talk off to one side. When Lee gets here they will tell her that Mako is in the kitchen and she will come down to find him 'cheating' on her. I sat on the counter waiting to here her car door shut. "Ready?" I say to him a little nervous.

"Umm, yeah totally. You?" he says rubbing his hands on his pants.

"Nervous?"

"No." he shakes his head a little to much. I scoff at him. "What?"

"Mako I can see that your nervous. Its okay, its not like you break up with girls often."

"I could!" I laugh at this and he gives me a shy look.

"Mako, I'm sorry for the way I acted before."

"What way?"

"When you came to the shop. I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you. I was just mad because I didn't think anyone knew where I was and it was kind of my day to do what I wanted."

"No need. I understand. Even I get that way sometimes." Suddenly we hear a car door shut and Mako is kissing me and I kissed back. Just like before it felt like a fire inside me. Starting in my stomach and making its way throughout my body. I felt his arms encircle my waist, one hand on the back of my neck pulling me closer. I put one hand on his chest and the other on the back of his neck. Without even realizing I wrapped my legs around his waist and wrapped my arms around his neck. If Mako was acting he was really good. Soon there was voices and the sound of someone coming down the stairs. We kept on kissing, acting like we thought it was Asami or Bolin. Then the yelling came.

"You Bitch! Get off of my boyfriend!" a very shrill voice screamed. As she said that we broke apart. I unwrapped my legs and Mako cleared his throat and raised his hands, walking towards her slowly.

"Lee I can explain. I swear."

"Explain what?! How you've been cheating on me with this whore?!" her voice getting higher and shriller.

"Excuse me?" I yell. I have been called a lot of things before, but no one calls me a whore.

"Calm down." Mako said to both of us.

"You know what we're over Mako. Have fun with this whore." She said to me as her walked out. We fallowed her on to the deck. She rounds on Bolin, Asami, and Iroh. "Did you all know about this?! Of course you did you spend you entire summer with him. The question is how long and with who else?" with her done yelling and breathing hard she walked of the boat. Bolin pulls us out into the lake so she cant come back. Mako had his arm over my shoulder.

"Well I'm glad that's over. Now we're free of that wretched bi….." Asami started but Iroh stopped her.

"Why don't we get started. What do you guys what to do first?" we decided to water ski. At lunch Mako got a call from Lee. He put it on speaker so we could all hear.

"Hello?" he said

"Oh Mako. I need to talk to you."

"Who is this?" we all started laughing.

"Come on Mako. I've done some thinking and I forgive you. Now come back to shore and I'll come get you. You'll have a lot of explaining to do followed by a long night of groveling."

Mako chuckles. "See that ain't gonna to happen. No matter how much you beg I am not going to come back." We laughed harder. It surprised me how much courage Mako had gotten in the last few hours for being away from Lee.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

It had been a month since Mako broke up with Lee and things couldn't be better. Of course except if Mako was my boyfriend that might make it better. We have spent the last few weeks on the boat, going to parties, and so fourth. I continued to go to the city and help with the kids, the machine shop closed and moved to another town so I would have to find something else to do. We would be going to a party tonight at someone's house. It was three now so I put on some shorts and a tank top and went for a run. When I got back it was six. I took a shower and started to get ready. I decided to wear a red cocktail dress with spaghetti straps that tie around the neck and matching shoes. My hair was wavy from the shower so I left it down. I put on some mascara and some eyeliner. A light coat of blush, a little lipstick, and I was ready. The party was kind of black tie. The

girls would wear dresses and the guys would wear slightly formal clothes. Last year Mako, Bolin, and I crashed the party by wearing really torn up clothes and had dirt all over us. A lot of people were not happy with us, Asami included. This year we decided to dress up like the other people. When I walked down stairs it was eight. I went into the living room where Mako and Bolin were waiting for me.

"Okay lets go." I say. The response I get is a wolf whistle from Bolin, who is now use to my outfits, and an open mouth stare from Mako. "Oh come on. I thought we were through with the staring." Mako quickly shuts his mouth. " Now can we get going?"

"Oh, um yeah." Mako says. We go to the car and get in. when we get to the party people ooh and ahh at the way I am dressed. They have never seen me look like this ever. Mako helps me out of the car just to be a gentleman. One of the popular girls walks up to us and tells us that we make the perfect couple, we immediately back away from each other. Sometimes I wish Mako could see that I actually like him and I'm not like all of those other girls who only date him for his money. Oh God I could write a Taylor Swift song. When we walk into the main hall people stop what they are doing and stare at me. I spot Asami and start walking over to her, all the while people stared at me as I walked across the room.

"I see you don't need my help anymore with the whole dress thing." I twirl for her.

"Nope." The rest of the evening was a rush of colors and dancing. I was standing next to the refreshment table when Mako was suddenly next to me.

"Excuse me Milady but would you care to dance?" he said bowing at the waist and holding out his arm. I saw girls all around us glower at me.

"Why thank you kind Sir." I say accepting his out stretched arm. We walked out on to the dance floor as a slow song came on. He put one hand on my waist and clasped my hand. My other hand went to his shoulder. We danced, he twirled me around, the whole time we smiled at each other. When the dance ended I was reluctant to stop dancing but I had to. We let go of each other and we heard aw's all around us. I then noticed that everyone else had stopped dancing or what ever they were doing and were staring at us. I blushed and me and Mako took hands again and took a bow. Then we went our separate ways. At eleven we went to the after party. There is usually a lot of drinking and making out at the after party. I never drink at the party but this year might be an exception. When we get there I walk right over to the alcohol table and pick up a beer. As I put it up to my lips to take a drink a hand grabs on to my arm and stops me.

"What do you think you are doing?" Mako's angry voice growls at me.

"Having a drink. What did you think I was doing?" I say back. It was kind of obvious with the beer in my hand.

"No you're not. You never drink and you're not going to start now. You hate the taste of alcohol, you always have. What's gotten into you?" he gets a worried tone in his voice.

"I'm just trying have fun."

"No your trying to get yourself hurt and I'm not going to sit by and watch you do that. Now put the beer down."

"No." with that I take a swig of it. Mako was right I hate the taste of alcohol but I wasn't going to let him see he was. A few years ago we had all tried it but we all cringed at the bitter taste and the way it burned your throat.

"Is there a problem here?" A new voice asks. It was Tanho. He was the most self-righteous person, egotistical, jerk I have ever met and his hair looked like a girls.

"No not at all. We were just leaving right Korra?" Mako says putting forced niceness in to his voice. He starts pulling me towards the door.

"No we weren't." I say pulling back.

"Good." Tanho said slipping an arm around my waist. I tried not to shutter at his touch.

(Mako POV)

I couldn't believe she would walk off with that guy. There was definitely something wrong with her, she had been acting strange all summer. I guess to her so had I. Like when we were in the pool and I had my arms around her and then when I past her the plate and I felt a strange tingle go up me arm. And when I kissed her the first time I had no idea why I did it I just got an irresistible urge to kiss her and before I knew it I was. I kind of hoped that Lee had walked in that time and we could have gotten it over then. Then when I went to the machine shop she seemed mad at me. I was about apologize for going there when she did, it made me a little happier. After that when the car door shut it was like all I wanted to do was kiss Korra. I knew there had been some strange feelings

lately from me, I don't know about her but for almost two years now all I wanted to do is be around her. I use to think of her as one of the guys and now I just want her to be something else. It worried me when she did things that could get her in trouble or hurt. Like when she gets in fights at school or when she jumped off the boat and ran in to the woods.

(Flashback)

I strolled down the hallway watching the other student past when I heard a loud bang a little ways away. I figured it came from some of the football guys messing around, but boy was I wrong. As I got closer to where a crowd had gathered I saw that to was two girls fighting. One girl was sitting on the other one and basically beating the crap out of the other. The one on top had light brown hair that was flying wild and you could tell she packed a punch. Korra. Why did she have to get into things like this. Honestly I was getting really worried about her. I had been getting strange feelings when ever I was around. My heart would do summersaults when ever I saw her and when ever she touched me my skin tingled. The other one was one of those really preppy girls who think that they are better than everyone else. I think her name was Sky or something. Suddenly more preppy girls fell on top of the other two to try and help their friend. That's when I decided to break up the fight. Tapping some of my friends on the shoulder we get the girls separated before the principle could come and yell at them. I was holding on to Korra who was struggling to get free of my grasp. When she figured out she couldn't she just hung there loosely. Then the bell rang for school to be out I let go of Korra and waited for her to straiten her clothes and grab her bag. I think Asami had started to rub off on her because she was wearing tight jeans and a semi-loose slight V-neck T-shirt so you could actually tell she had curves. I tried not to stare at her much now. I noticed that she had a bloody lip and was starting to get a black eye. Boy were her parents going to freak out when they saw her. When she was ready we took my car to her house so I could drop her off. I parked the car and went inside. When I found her she was in the bathroom trying to clean up her lip but kept flinching when the rag touched it. "Need some help with that." I said leaning against the doorway. She jumped when she heard me.

"I thought you left." I walk over and take the rag, pick her up and put her on the counter, and start to lightly dab her lip.

"I was but I figured that you need help hiding this from your parents." I smile at her when she tried to smile a thanks that quickly turned in to a wince. When I was done cleaning up her lip I washed the rag of and set it on the counter beside the sink. "Now how do you want to explain the busted lip and black eye?"

"I don't know. I can't tell them that it was a fight because they said that if I got into one more fight I would be sent to military school." She says looking down. Military school?! I could not handle it if she left.

"Korra what are we going to do with you?" I say shaking my head and smiling at the same time. She just laughed and shrugged. That was when we heard the door close and her parents yell for her. She looks at me with a scared look on her face. I knew how she felt. If they knew that she got in a fight they would send her away. That was if they found out. I yanked her off the counter and dragged her to the kitchen. I sat her down on a stool at the island and grabbed a rag and wetted it down with cold water. When her parents walked in I heard her mother gasp.

"Korra what happened?" I turned to see Senna grasping her daughters face. Her father, Tonraq, looked concerned and angry at the same time. Korra looked at me for help.

"Oh Korra's fine, she just ran into a door." I said as I handed her the rag to put on her eye. She mouthed a thank you over her shoulder as her mom lead her away. I stared after her. I turned when her father started to chuckle. I looked at him with curiosity.

"Son I know that look all to well." I just kept looking at him. "Come with me." He waved me after him as he walk out of the room. He took me to his study and made me sit in the chair across for his behind the desk. "Mako I know you probably feel a little confused right now and I think I might be able to help you."

"Sir you are right. I am very confused but I wonder how you are going to help me."

"That look you had on your face when Korra left the room is not the kind of look a friend gives another friend. How do I know this? Because that is the same look that I give her mother. Now Mako I can see that you are falling for my little Korra. Your parents and Senna and I knew it would with how much time you two spend together. Now I wouldn't mind if you dated my daughter, I know you would treat her with all the respect that she deserves, but if you ever break her heart I would have not have a problem with teaching you a lesson." He said getting up and walking around the room. I stood up to face him while I talked.

"Sir I promise you that I will never hurt Korra nor will I let anything harm her." I said taking on a serious tone. Tonraq grinned.

"That's what I like to hear." He said clapping me on the back.

(Flashback Ends)

Now with the beer and walking away with Tanho that just ticked me off. I know she hates alcohol and that egotistical moron. I went and sat on a bench where I could watch Tanho. If he so much as touches Korra the wrong way he's not going to have any hands left. After awhile Bolin and Iroh came over and sat down, one on each side.

"I see the seething beast is back in town and what do you think is causing this Iroh?" Bolin said with a hand on his chin.

"I think it is from a certain blue eyed girl walking away with a beer in one hand and a strange guy in the other." Iroh says back.

"Yes, yes I think you could be right."

"Shut up you guys!"

"Ohh someone's in a bad mood." With that I pushed him off of the bench. After about ten minutes Asami came over and got Iroh and Bolin left to case some girl in a halter top and mini shirt. I sat there for the next hour and a half watching Korra and Tanho drink what looked like a keg of beer(Tanho drinking the most of it) at one point a cup of beer got split on her dress. She must have decided to go clean up because she got up and started to walk away. Instead of going to the house she walked out of the gate and into the street.

"Shit." I walk after her and told Bolin where I'm going. At some point she dropped her keys but doesn't notice and keeps walking. I pick them up and get in her car. I know its hers because she has the only black 98' charger around here. I start driving along behind her I get up beside her.

"Korra get in the car and I will take you home." She ignores me. "Korra!" she looks over at me. Just by the way she looks you could tell she was drunk. "Get in the car. Let me take you home."

"NO!" she yells and keeps walking but stumbles. She takes of her shoes and ties them to her purse. Then continues walking down the sidewalk.

"Korra get in the car!" I yell. If anyone were to look at us they would think that we were boyfriend and girlfriend fighting or breaking up.

"You get in the car."

"What?" I don't think she even knows what that means, I don't even know what it means. "Never mind. Korra get in this car now or so help me I will drag to it and put you in the trunk! " I slam my fist on the car door. My anger rising.

"Noooooooo." She slurred and fell on to the sidewalk giggling. She crossed her legs I guess not caring that I could see her underwear.

"Korra so help if you don't get in this car right now I'll…." I started but was cut off.

"You'll what? You wont hurt me." She says defiantly. She was right I wouldn't hurt her, I couldn't hurt her. Suddenly another car came up behind me.

"Hey there Cutie. I was wondering where you went. Why don't you came get in my car and we can have some fun." It was Tanho again. Why did he keep showing up when I didn't want him, which was all the time. Korra got right up and got in his car. He drove off burning rubber. I slammed my head on the wheel. How could I let her go off with him again, and now I can't be where I can keep a close eye on them. I did the only thing I could think of. I called Bolin.

"Hello!" he shouted above the music.

"Hey bro we're in trouble."

"Hold on let me get to where I can here you better." Minutes later he spoke again. "Okay what's going on."

"You know how I went after Korra? Yeah well I was trying to get her to get in the car and then Tanho came and she went off with him and I don't know where. I'm really worried about her."

"Okay just stay calm, go back home she is bound to go back there at some point, I'll get Asami and Iroh, and we'll meet you there."

"Okay thanks."

"Anytime Korra is like family and I care as much as you do about her." Probably not as much I thought. Trying to stay calm like Bolin said to I drove her car back to our house. When I got there I kept pacing the living room until they got here.

"Geez someone's breeches are in a bunch." Asami says as she walks through the door. I notice that I had started to wring my hands.

"She just left with him like it was nothing. Just got in his car and left." I sounded crazy but I was really upset at how she did that. Bolin put his hands on my shoulders.

"Listen to me its going to be fine. She is probably going to walk through that door in the next half hour. Okay. Now let Iroh take you to your room and Asami will get you a glass of water." As I left the room I saw Bo whisper something to Asami. Shortly after we got to my room Asami brought me a glass of water and two pills.

"What are these?" I ask holding up the little white pills

"There to calm you down, now take them." They stood there and watched as I took the pills. Then they left and after about ten minutes I was fast asleep.

When I woke up my anxiety returned when I remembered Korra. I almost jumped out of bed and I ended up tangled up in my sheets and fell on the floor. Once I untangled myself I rushed to her room. It was just a few doors down from mine so I was there in no time. I knocked on her door and got no answer, I knocked again and this time I got a groan. I walked in not really caring if she was decent I just wanted to be sure she was okay. I found her in her bathroom sitting beside the toilet, with her head between her knees.

"Korra? Are you okay?" I ask

"Noooooooo" and with that she passed out on the floor. I took a wash cloth, ran it under some water, and wiped of her face. Once she was cleaned up I picked her up and took her to her bed. She hadn't gotten anything on her clothes so I didn't have to change them, she was wearing a loose T-shirt and shorts, I tucked her under the blankets. When I picked her up her shirt came up a little and I thought I saw a strange mark on her back. When I laid her down I lifted her shirt slightly and saw bruises all over her side and I didn't want to know if there was any more so I slid she shirt back down and went to clean up the bathroom. It didn't take me very long and soon I was back in my room. I took a shower and put on a grey T-shirt, swim shorts, and sneakers. I kept trying not to think about what I saw on Korra's side and I wondered if she had more bruises and what they were from. I went down stairs to find breakfast ready and on the table. At the same time I walked through one door Bolin and Asami walk through another.

"Hey." They said at the same time.

"Hey? What's going on here?" I ask looking at the two of them and then back at the food on the table.

"Breakfast." Asami says.

"But you guys never make breakfast. Why now?"

"Because we decided to. Now sit down and eat." She says in a warning tone, Bolin was behind her nodding his head. We all sat down and started eating. I have to say it wasn't the best meal but we didn't tell her that. She may be a multi-billion dollar heiress/princess, but she could still kick our butts if she wanted to.

"So how's Korra?" she asked

"Last I knew she was back in her bed where I put her." They gave me some strange looks. "I found her laying on the bathroom floor passed out and hung-over. So I cleaned her up and put her to bed." I didn't want to tell them about the bruises until I talked to Korra about them.

(Korra POV)

This morning I woke up with a massive headache and the urge to throw up. I immediately ran to my bathroom to do so. After awhile I heard a knock but I just groaned, then Mako came in and asked if I was okay all I thought of was no. How could I be okay I was sitting on the floor of a bathroom groaning with vomit on my face. Then I kind of blacked out. When I woke up again I was in bed and my headache was gone. I looked at the clock beside my bed it was eight at night. I hurt all over and I knew way.

When I got in to Tanho's car (I wasn't drunk enough to forget stuff yet) he took me to his house which wasn't far from mine. I think he knew what he was doing because he tried to get me to have sex with him. When I refused he pushed me on to the ground and started to kick me and beat me. I didn't cry out but the pain was so bad I almost blacked out then. He only hit the top half of my body and then when he stopped hitting and kicking me he tried to have sex with me again but this time I made a run for it. I could hear him yelling "Keep quite you little bitch or you won't get away next time!" I hoped the wasn't a next time. I just kept running until I got back home. I took a long shower to get the feeling of his touch off me, put on a loose T-shirt and some shorts, and went to bed.

Now all I wanted to do was clear my head. I decided to go for a run, despite my aching muscles. I got up and changed only pausing to look at the bruises on my back, sides, chest, stomach, and shoulders. I hoped they would fade soon, I couldn't let anyone know they were there especially Mako. He must have gotten really worried last night. Once I had put on a loose shirt, shorts, and running shoes I went down stairs. I found Bolin and Mako in the living room watching TV.

"Hey." I say

"Hey. I see your feeling better." Bolin says. Mako won't even look at me, he seems distracted by something.

"Yeah much better. So much that I'm going to go for a run." At this Mako looked up at me, there was a strange look in his eyes maybe concern. "So I will see you later." And then I walked out of the house. I put my head phones in and ran. I kept running until I was free of the of the brush. Then I realized that I was in the clearing again. I had come here a few times since Mako and I found it but not very often. I went of over to the tree and sat down. I sat there and thought about things that have happened lately. The bruises. How it happened. And lastly me and Mako. My thoughts were interrupted by heavy rain. It was coming down hard so I ran back to the house as quick as I could. I guess I really had been lost in thought because it was now ten and the boys had gone to bed. I went up stairs, dried off, changed, and went to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

(Mako POV)

I got up early the next morning, did my work out, took a shower, and went downstairs to make breakfast. It was Friday today. It was also raining really hard and I doubted anyone would be going any where today. Yesterday when Korra came down I felt bad because I barely looked at her and then she went off again. At least it wasn't with Tanho. When I finished Bolin came down I his PJ's. "Good Morning."

"Its morning already?" he said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah. Now go get dressed and get Naga I need to feed her. She is usually up by now. Asami will be here soon." Then I went back to making breakfast. After awhile I heard Bolin yell.

"Mako you better get up here. I think Korra is sick." What? She shouldn't be here, she is suppose to be in the city today. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could. That I could see all the lights were off in her room. When I got to her room I saw Korra still in bed with the blankets balled up around her and more than you'd expect to see in the summer on top of that. Her eyes were shut tight and she had beads of sweat on her forehead. She looked awful, not to be mean but she did. Her hair was tangled and all over the pillow, she had dark circles under her eyes, and her breathing came out in rasps. I sat down on the bed next to her and brushed the hair out of her face. We heard a car pull up outside the house and Bolin went to see who it was. Again I saw the bruises, I quickly pulled her shirt down and covered her with her blankets.

"Korra?" I whisper. She opens her eyes a little and cringes at the very little light in the room.

"Mako?" she coughed. "I don't." Cough. "Feel well." Cough. "Can you tell." Cough. "Pema I won't be." And then she went in to a fit of coughing.

"Yeah. Yeah I can." I said using a gentle voice. I went into her bathroom got her a drink of water and a wet wash rag. I gave her the water and when she was done drinking and laid back down I put the rag on her forehead. My fingers brushed against her skin and it was burning hot. Soon her breathing slowed and she was asleep. I sat beside her on her bed until Asami and Bolin come into the room.

"How is she?" Asami asked.

"Not good. She has a fever, cough, and who knows what else."

"Should we take her to a doctor?" Bolin said with a tone of worry creeping in to his voice.

"No." they gave me strange and worried glances. "No ones getting through that rain and with all those muddy roads he would likely get stuck coming here."

"Yes I suppose so. Then what do we do? We can't get out either." Asami said. She had her arms crossed over her chest.

"Do we have any medicine? Tylenol or something?" I knew from when Bo use to get sick I would give him that and keep him warm so his fever would break. Asami went of to get medicine and Bolin got more blankets. I sat back down and looked at Korra. She looked to be having a nightmare. I put my hand on her shoulder and she calmed down a little. The next few days were devoted to taking care of Korra. I was in and out of her room all the time and she barley ever woke. Each time she woke it was from a nightmare and she was frightened. By nine the third day I was the only one up, Asami and Bolin were passed out on the couch and I was sitting on a chair watching TV. Korra woke up this time screaming. I ran in to her room to find her sitting up still screaming. I sat down next to her and put one arm around her. She quite screaming and looked at me. Tears were running down her face now. Suddenly she buried her head in my chest and cried. I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed circles on her back. "Shh. Its okay." I kept saying this and other things until she quit crying. When she sat back we talked again.

"I'm sorry. I had a nightmare." I still had an arm around her shoulders.

"Its fine. What was it about?" I asked

"I would rather not talk about it. Can I go back to sleep?" she said laying back down.

"Yeah sure." I started to walk out of the room.

"Good night Mako and thank you." She mumbled

"Good night Korra." I said flipping off the light as I left."

(Korra POV)

I had woken the next day feeling a lot better. My fever and cough were gone but I my throat was still a little sore. I got up and took a shower only pausing to look at my bruises. They were blue, purple, and black now and they still hurt. I've started having nightmares about how I got them. After I showered I got dressed in a light blue tank top, a dark blue vest that covered my bruises, brown shorts, dark blue leggings, boots that fold down and has fur on them, and bracelets. I made sure that all my bruises were covered and went down stairs. I found everyone eating breakfast. Mako was dressed in brown pants, a white shirt under a grey sweater, sneakers, and his fathers scarf (long story). In all he look great. Bolin was wearing rolled up pants, a dark grey shirt with writing on it, and sneakers. Asami was wearing red leggings, leather boots, a red dress that went down to her mid-thigh, and a leather jacket. They all got surprised looks on their faces when I walk in the dinning room.

"Hi." I said and stood in the doorway awkwardly. "Can I sit?" immediately Mako got up and pulled out a chair right next to him.

"So your feeling better?" Asami asked me.

"Much better. Thanks….by the way for taking care of me."

"No problem your like family to all of us. I'm sorry Iroh couldn't come his father wanted to see him. But he wanted to came." Asami says.

"Its fine I wasn't that sick. Was I?" I said.

"Yeah you were. It kind of scared us for awhile." Mako says quietly. I realized that he hadn't talked much yet. The rest of the meal was filled with Bolin and Asami telling me how sick I was. Mako didn't talk at all through out the rest of the meal. When we were finished we decided to stay inside today because of all the mud. As we were walking out of the dinning room to the living room Mako spoke to me.

"Korra can I talk to you privately." He said almost a whisper and there was anger in his voice.

"Yeah sure." We walk to the hallway outside of the kitchen. Suddenly he turned on me.

"Did he do that to you?!" he was almost yelling.

"Do what and who?" my voice rising to.

"Tanho did he give you those bruises?!" I looked down at my feet. How did he find out about those? I did my best to hid them.

"How did you find out about them?" my voice now barely audible. He put his hand on his mouth. I knew he was angry now.

"I saw them when I was taking you back to you bed when you were hung-over and again when you were sick. Now did he do that to you?" his voice lower now.

"Yes." Tears where in my eyes now. I looked towards the ground.

"Where else are the bruises." I took off my vest and lifted my shirt. I showed him my stomach, back, and all the other places I had bruises.

"I'm going to kill him." he says walking towards the door. I grab his arm.

"Mako! Please don't. Please." I guess he saw the pleading in my eyes.

"Korra what am I suppose to do? He hit you! And did you think that you could hid them from me. Korra I promised you father that if anything happened to you I would protect you and I am going to be held to that promise right now!" with that he walk through the house and out the front door. I ran after him getting strange looks from the others.

"Mako!" he stopped and turned around. We were in the driveway now. "If you want to help me don't go. Please just don't go."

"Korra. How am I suppose to sit by and know that he did that to you?" he stepped closer to me. So close that we were almost touching. Silent tears were streaming down my face now. Suddenly his arms wrapped around me. I put my head on his chest and cried. One of his hands rubbed slow circles on my back. It hurt slightly because of the bruises. When I finished crying I lifted my head.

"Mako I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." I saw remorse in his eyes.

"Korra… Can you do me a favor?" He said wiping a tear from my face.

"Yeah anything."

"Never ever scare me again." we laugh at this and give each other one last squeeze and go inside with an arm around each other.


End file.
